Planet of Dreams
by CatsbytheGreat
Summary: The TARDIS lands on an uninhabited planet, which leads to a strange adventure for the Doctor and Rose.


**Disclaimer: I don't own the characters and the idea for the planet in this story is based on the Island of Dreams from C.S. Lewis's "The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader". It's a fantastic book. My favourite of the whole Narnia series. **

**Author's Note: So, this sprang from my sister asking me to write a Doctor Who story. I hope you enjoy it! **

**

* * *

**"Where are we?"

Rose Tyler emerged from the TARDIS and found herself standing on sand that seemed strange. It was only after a moment of staring that she realized the sand was pink.

The Doctor stepped out behind her and frowned, looking around. Nothing moved or made a sound. He sighed. "There must have been some sort of disturbance in the space-time continuum that caused us to land on an unknown and, apparently, uninhabited planet."

"Does that mean you know what went wrong?" Rose asked.

"Not a clue." The Doctor bent down and scooped up a handful of the pink sand. He observed it carefully through his glasses before running it through his hands and then scanning it with his sonic screwdriver.

"Anything?" Rose prompted.

"No." The Doctor frowned. "That's odd. According to my sonic screwdriver there's nothing there except my hand. Except…that's wrong. I can feel it. I'm holding the sand."

Rose glanced around, taking in her surroundings. There was a forest nearby of the strangest trees, blue in color and not as tall as the trees back on Earth. The sand seemed to be part of a field surrounded by forest.

"There's nothing," she said. "Do you think…we should go exploring?"

"Ordinarily I would say yes," the Doctor said, taking off his glasses, "but something about this planet makes me want to say no. My sonic screwdriver isn't picking up the existence of anything except you and me and the TARDIS. That isn't good."

"Well," Rose said, "it could be broken."

"It isn't broken. It's working—I know because it picked up on the presence of you and me and the TARDIS. Plus, it uses sound waves and sound waves can detect the presence of an object. Sound waves can't just miss something that's there, not when they're concentrated directly at the thing. They would either bounce off or be altered in some way. The only explanation," the Doctor took a deep breath, "is that none of this exists."

Rose stared at him for a moment before laughing. "Are you kidding? We're standing here, on this planet. You're holding pink sand. How would we be standing here, breathing, outside the TARDIS if none of this existed?"

"I have no idea," the Doctor murmured, "and that's what scares me." He looked from the sand in his palm to Rose, dismay written on his face. "I always know what's going on. This…this is strange. This is not good. _Not _good at all. I think we should get off this planet."

"Since when are you afraid of what you don't know?" Rose asked, raising an eyebrow. "Come on, Doctor. You're always telling people to live a little. Can't we explore this planet? It isn't like there are other people around to hurt us."

"Yes, but why aren't there people? Doesn't that seem odd?" the Doctor countered. "Why does this planet technically not exist? By all accounts, we shouldn't even be here."

"Well, we are here," Rose said, taking his hand and leading him towards the trees. "Let it never be said that the Doctor wasn't a risk taker."

The Doctor smiled at this and gave a dramatic sigh. "_Fine_. If the great Rose Tyler wills it, then let it be so."

Rose grinned back and led the Doctor into the forest.

* * *

The trees were growing slowly thicker and less blue. "This reminds me of a nightmare I used to have when I was little," Rose commented, glancing around as the Doctor led her between the trees and through the roots.

"What do you mean?"

Rose bit her lip. "The trees look less strange and more…like a forest in the country. I used to have nightmares that I was trapped in the forest, lost and alone, and something would start to chase me and there would be no help."

"Well, I'm here." The Doctor paused to consider the surrounding area. "Does it really look like that to you?" He turned to her, frowning. "To me, it just looks like a sunny foreign planet forest that's thinning out. We must be reaching the edge."

"Thinning out?" Rose repeated, stunned. All she could see were trees and precious little sunlight. "What are you talking about? It's getting thicker!"

The Doctor shook his head. "I think I see a clearing ahead. Rose, how could it be getting thicker?"

"I don't know," Rose murmured. Something moved out of the corner of her eye and she turned abruptly, only to find the shadow gone. "Did you see that? Something moved."

"I didn't see anything," the Doctor said, his frown deepening. "I don't know what you're seeing, Rose…" His eyes widened. "And maybe that's it." He gasped. "Rose! What if the reason my sonic screwdriver won't pick up on anything is because none of this exists?"

"You said that before," Rose snapped, looking around. A strange feeling came upon her; a chill ran up her spine. It was almost as if she were being watched.

"Yes, I did," the Doctor said, "but now it makes sense. We must be seeing different things because none of it really exists. I don't know how…but somehow this planet is generating illusions, different ones for each person. All of this," he gestured around, "is in our heads. I have no idea why each illusion would be different, though."

"Someone is watching us," Rose muttered, moving closer to the Doctor. There was a shadow in the trees moving around, rustling the leaves.

"Hold on." The Doctor closed his eyes for a moment. "Where do these illusions come from? How does this planet—or whatever's generating them—decide who gets what illusion?"

"Doctor," Rose hissed through clenched teeth, "something is _there_."

The Doctor turned towards her and took her chin in his hands. "Look at me, Rose," he said. "Listen." Rose allowed her gaze to fall on the Doctor's face. Her anxiety was palpable—she was almost shaking. "This is all in your head. I don't know what kind of planet this is or how this is happening, but you have to realize that this is all in your head." Her eyes widened, moving to stare at something behind him, which only made the Doctor more insistent. "_None _of it is real, Rose, do you hear me? Not a single thing. Listen, as long as we stay together, everything will be—"

"No!" With a terrible scream Rose turned abruptly, grabbing the Doctor's arm and pulling him roughly forward so that both of them plunged further into the trees. Or, that was what Rose saw. To the Doctor, they were heading out of the forest.

"What's wrong?" the Doctor cried, releasing himself from Rose's grip and rubbing his arm.

"A-a thing came out of the trees!" Rose cried. "It nearly attacked you! You didn't feel it? I can see it…it's moving."

"What was it?"

"I—I dunno." Rose's heart was beating fast and her mind was screaming at her to run. "A s-shadow, I think…" She nearly jumped when something moved behind the trees. "C-can't you see it?"

The Doctor assessed the area and shook his head. "No. There's nothing there. Although…this whole thing reminds me of a very pleasant…" His eyes widened as all the breath left him. "_Oh_. A _dream_."

"What?" Rose asked faintly, her eyes focused on some point in the distance.

"Oh, no," the Doctor whispered, turning to face her. "This planet takes our dreams—or, in your case, nightmares—and brings them to life. You said earlier that the forest reminded you of a nightmare you had as a child." He clapped his hands together, startling Rose. "Yes! That _must_ be it! I don't know why you're having a nightmare and I'm having a good dream, but this isn't good. People must go mad here! _Well_," the Doctor amended, "if there were people here they would go mad. I suppose that's why there aren't any, otherwise—"

But Rose hadn't heard a word. Something was coming for her, she could _see_ it. Suddenly, the Doctor disappeared. She took a step back and as she did so the shadow materialized, right in front of her. She screamed and stumbled back. That's when it came at her, and she began to run as fast as she could.

* * *

The Doctor noticed that Rose wasn't quite paying attention to him and he knew that her fear was getting to her. Yet, because he couldn't see what she saw, he couldn't do anything. He did notice that her eyes were wide, and as it occurred to him that perhaps he should say something to calm her, she stepped back from him. Then she screamed. The Doctor stepped forward, concerned, wanting to offer comfort, but she stumbled back.

He reached forward to attempt to steady her, and that's when she began to run. The Doctor sighed, not having expected this to turn into a chase. He threw a quick glance behind him to ensure that, at least in his world, nothing was pursuing her before he set after her. He was surprised at how fast she ran. She would occasionally glance over her shoulder, and he tried to get her attention, but his presence did not seem to calm her; she kept on running.

Soon, however, her body began to tire. The Doctor gritted his teeth as he watched her fall, tripping over something that he couldn't see but which, for her, was all too real. As he approached he called her name. She turned terrified eyes on him and yelled, "Leave me alone!"

The Doctor found himself shocked beyond words. "Rose—?"

"No!" Rose cried, eyes wild with fear. "Get away from me, you monster! Get away! Just leave me _alone_!"

"Rose…" the Doctor repeated, but he felt his heart grow cold when he saw that Rose was not staring beyond him, but directly _at_ him, his image reflected her wide eyes. _I'm the monster,_ he thought, disbelief showing on his face. "No. No, no, no, no, this _can't_ be happening." He closed his eyes. "How can I help you if you think I'm the monster?"

It didn't matter at the moment. Rose was struggling to get up. In one swift movement her fist connected with the Doctor's face, sending him staggering backwards briefly before he regained his balance. She was already a distance away by the time he recovered, but she was also tired, and he could easily catch up with her.

Or…

The Doctor formed a new plan. She was afraid of him; she would never follow him. In pained him greatly to know that he was the cause of her suffering now, but he could not let his sadness or her fear stop them from getting off the planet.

He would chase her towards the TARDIS.

He had no idea how it would manifest itself in either of their dreams, but he had a feeling that since the TARDIS created rifts in time and space, it would remain the same.

He hoped.

The wild chase began.

Rose was tired. The Doctor managed to get her towards the clearing, though he doubted that she saw it as a clearing anymore. Even his view had changed; it was now a beach rather than a field of sand in the middle of a forest, crystal blue waters lapping against the edges of the TARDIS. He frowned, but was relieved that his ship was still there, the same as always.

Rose stood with her back against the door and it occurred to him that he could not open it. As he drew closer she pressed herself harder against the surface.

"Please," she begged, "please. Leave me alone."

He cringed at the desperate tone of her voice; he had never heard her sound so weak and helpless. He wondered what she saw him as, but he wasn't entirely sure he wanted to know. Whatever she was seeing, it was horrible, and perhaps it would be best if they both forgot.

Swiftly, so fast that Rose could not react, the Doctor moved forward and placed his hands on either side of Rose's head. Directing his energies towards her, he caused her to fall asleep, slumped in his arms.

Shifting his weight, the Doctor managed to free a hand to open the TARDIS doors, through which he dragged his unconscious companion. Sighing with relief, he settled Rose on the floor and returned to the controls, where he set the TARDIS to take them far away from the planet.

Safe and sound in the Doctor's travelling space ship, Rose Tyler slept.

* * *

"W-where am I?"

The Doctor looked away from the controls to find Rose awake and sitting up, looking confused. He offered her a small grin. "You seem to find yourself on the floor of my TARDIS entirely too often without a memory of how you got there." He sighed. "You were so tired that you fell asleep. It's terrible, but time travel does that to you. It's the mother of all jet-lags."

Rose sat up and frowned. "I had the strangest dream," she murmured, "but I can't remember it now…"

"Good."

Rose stared at him and he realized how strangely strong his response had been. "What?"

"Well, some dreams you just don't want to remember," he amended. "As long as you had a good sleep, that's all that matters."

Rose stood up and came over to the controls. Grinning, she leaned against him and sighed. "You're right. You know, I always have the best naps in the TARDIS. I guess you just make me feel…safe."

The Doctor could not tell her how happy that simple statement made him feel. Instead he put his arm around her and murmured, "Of course I do. That's my job, and don't you ever forget it."


End file.
